


The Rookie

by greygerbil



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 17:04:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13722162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greygerbil/pseuds/greygerbil
Summary: When Reyes introduces a new omnic member to their Blackwatch unit, Genji finds himself more interested than he pretends to be.





	The Rookie

**Author's Note:**

> For Genyatta Week 2018, Prompt: Different Skins, in this case Blackwatch Genji and Cabon Fibre Zenyatta.

“That’s all about the mission in Barcelona.”

Reyes put away the tablet he’d been reading from and Genji shifted in his seat. He was beyond ready to leave the debriefing and get to his room, feeling tired, exhausted and hurt on top of it. The tube at the base of his neck had been bothering him all week and if he wanted it fixed properly, he’d first have to figure out whether it was a matter more suited for Dr. Ziegler’s or Lindholm’s talents. The reality of his life that his body was jointly supervised by a medical professional and a damned _mechanic_ and the adjacent knowledge that he might have to sit between Lindholm’s half-finished turrets in the workshop again was why he kept pushing treatment off.

“The next matter,” Reyes said, stifling Genji’s hopes to get out of here. “I want to introduce a new potential squad member to you. Moira already met him last week. He’ll be working alongside us for a bit and if he suits the unit, he can stay. He’s done undercover work for the Asian arm of Blackwatch for a few months now.”

“A newbie for your favourite squad? Damn, boss, it’s been a while,” McCree said, echoing Genji’s own thoughts. “Hope he’s more fun than this one…”

McCree grinned at Genji and he considered rising to the bait, but he was too interested in the news. Not that he was happy they’d have to babysit a rookie, he had neither the time nor patience for that. Still, Genji himself was the latest new addition to this squad and he’d joined three years ago.

Reyes opened the door and McCree let out a noise of surprise.

“An omnic?” He whistled. “Didn’t expect that.”

“It’s not like he’s the first in Overwatch history,” Reyes said.

But he was the first in _Blackwatch_ history high enough up the chain to be considered as an agent. Genji had been with the unit for long enough to know there was a difference. Overwatch wanted to build bridges; Blackwatch checked the foundations to make sure the pillars wouldn’t be torn away by the river underneath. To let an omnic work with their unit as anything but an ancillary informant was new.

“My name is Zenyatta,” the omnic said in a quiet, steady voice. “I’m pleased to meet you.”

Zenyatta wore black-and-green trousers to match a dark chassis and lights of emerald colour. The LEDs on his head that approximated eyes were curved and slanted backwards, looking sleek and alien but not entirely inhuman.

“Zenyatta has medical training and a good head for complicated missions. Being an omnic, he’ll also give us an edge bypassing smaller technological obstacles. He should be a decent support. Jesse, Genji, show him to the barracks and don’t piss him off right-away. As for you, Zenyatta, try not to start trouble or you’re out again before the evening. All dismissed,” Reyes said and waved them away.

-

“So how’d you come to be here, anyway?” McCree asked the robot that walked between them along the narrow metal corridor towards the private quarters.

“I was among a few dozen omnics held captive in a man’s basement for over two years,” the omnic said evenly. “I managed to bypass his firewalls and access parts of his system off-limits to us. As I looked for a way to free us, I stumbled over traces of a Blackwatch hacker trying to get into the operation and managed to make contact.”

“What where you doin’ in the basement?” McCree asked.

“Mining cryptocurrency. We were the mining pool for a network of investors,” the omnic answered.

“Omnics can do that?” McCree asked, scratching his cheek.

“Of course they can. They’re some of the most powerful and well-optimised systems out there,” Genji said with a shrug.

McCree glanced at him. 

“How do _you_ know that?”

“Unlike you, I wasn’t just in some backwater street gang, McCree,” Genji answered, raising a brow at him. “Obviously the Shimada family dabbled in cyber-crimes as well. The only reasons using omnics for mining is not more wide-spread is because if you pay them, you’re cutting into your profits too much.”

“Which is why my former owner did not bother with that step,” Zenyatta added. “It is also amazingly boring work. Unless you are chained to the basement walls as we were, one would probably rather do anything else.”

“How does any of that make you useful to us, though?” Genji asked. There was enough human heart left inside him that he could feel a little compassion for the omnic, but that didn’t make it a good idea to incorporate him into an elite Blackwatch unit.

“It doesn’t, but before I was kidnapped, I was used as a caretaker in a hospital. While I was in the basement, I also had time to work on some techniques that might be useful in a fight, since I had a lot of time to think up revenge fantasies which I’ve put aside now,” Zenyatta answered blankly. “I don’t need to move my body much to train, unlike a human. I don’t have muscles or reflexes to hone. It’s more about perfecting subroutines and new programmes. The Blackwatch unit I worked with back in Hong Kong also helped me out in that regard.”

“Still, sounds like you could use some beta testin’,” McCree joked. “We got a practice room for that.”

“I’d be very happy to join you there,” Zenyatta said.

-

“Dead.”

Genji pulled the blunt edge of the training sword out from under the metal plates that approximated a ribcage on Zenyatta’s body. The omnic cocked his head, green lights flickering up at Genji.

“You are exceptionally fast. Even when I know which way you’re coming from, I can’t evade.”

“Well, you’re better than I thought, too,” Genji admitted. He was not someone who gave out compliments to be polite, but the number of solid metal balls he’d caught with every available part of his body today was testament to Zenyatta’s skill. He’d feel that for a while.

“I’m glad I’ve earned your confidence,” Zenyatta answered.

“We’ll see about that,” Genji muttered as he let the door to the practice chamber slide open.

While they were walking up the stairs to the observation room, he saw Zenyatta still playing with his orbs, letting them spin idly around his neck. He was floating, too, a trick he’d first shown a few days ago and seemed to prefer to walking. It was probably something to do with magnetism that enabled both of these abilities, which Genji had never seen before in an omnic. That didn’t explain the purple and golden orb he’d showed off to them, though.

“How is he?” Reyes asked, sitting at the console in the observation room.

Genji was sure he had formed his own opinion watching them through the windows. However, Reyes liked to take in everyone’s words not just for consideration, as Genji suspected, but to see how well his team was paying attention.

“He will have to stay in the backline so we can make sure he will not be overwhelmed. He’s slow and easy to hurt, but anyone who thinks they can take him one-on-one will also have to fight it out,” Genji answered, glancing briefly at Zenyatta, who took the evaluation in stoic silence.

“Easy to underestimate,” McCree added, smiling lopsidedly as he displayed a big, circular bruise on his arm that he’d earned sparring with Zenyatta yesterday. “Probably would make fine bait if he’s got the balls for it.”

“I’m confident I would pass that beta test, too,” Zenyatta gave back.

-

“Yes, Reye’s package. It’s over there.” Moira pointed at one of her shelves, never looking at Genji, instead focused on Zenyatta in front of her as her face tightened in concentration. “How do you function?”

Genji had no larger problem with Moira other than that he found her overinvestment in some of her experiments disturbing, but the sheer frustration that Zenyatta seemed to cause her was admittedly amusing to behold. Of course, Genji had asked himself the same thing, but he’d also seen his father summon a dragon for the first time when he was three years old, so he tended not to stop himself with unnecessary concerns like that for too long. The world held more things in it than he needed to explain.

“I’m sorry to disappoint, but I just do,” Zenyatta answered, correcting the seat of one of the cables attached to a connector port in his head. “Me and another omnic who sat by my side were trying meditation and that is when I first tapped into most of my powers, including levitation and healing and weakening from a distance.”

“Meditation doesn’t make steel float,” Moira muttered, bowing over one of her screens onto which a series of data streams was projected right out of Zenyatta’s CPU.

“May I take off the electrodes?” Zenyatta asked, a smile in his voice that couldn’t show on his face. “I’m sure you’ve copied all the relevant data by now.”

“Yes, yes. At least you do let me look into it.” Moira waved her clawed fingers at Genji. “This one here is incredibly resistant to any sort of inquiries or improvement. I would love to test the limits his body could break after everything it has already proven to survive.”

Genji found Zenyatta looking at him with his head slightly cocked in a way that spelled curiosity. Quickly, he stepped out of the laboratory, the parcel Reyes had sent him to collect from Moira in his hand.

-

“You’ve been having trouble with your neck, haven’t you?” Zenyatta asked.

Genji looked up from the locker where he’d just stored his training weapons.

“How would you know?”

“You’re avoiding certain movements. Couldn’t you go to a doctor here? It seems foolish to fight under your full capacity and hurt for no reason.”

This omnic was annoyingly perceptive. Slamming the locker close, Genji turned away.

“I don’t even know if I have to see a specialist for muscles or motors,” Genji said. “I will figure it out when I have the time.”

“I was programmed to treat humans and am fairly well-versed in the engineering of robot bodies for obvious reasons. I could take a look.”

Hesitating, Genji glanced back at the omnic. At least he’d spare himself the indignity of asking Moira and listening to another treatise on the grand opportunities of removing his body even further from what could conceivably be thought of as human. 

“My room,” Genji muttered curtly.

Zenyatta followed.

When Genji had sat down on a metal folding chair in his mostly empty chamber, Zenyatta moved behind him and ran one finger up over the central tube at his spine, testing the places where it held.

“You have a very interesting body.”

“That’s diplomatic of you.”

“I meant it in the original sense, not as a euphemism. May I ask how you came by it?”

Genji had known he was headed for that conversation. The question always came eventually and if his direct colleagues asked it, he even had to humour them. After all, he did have to give them some semblance of a reason as to why he was their primary expert on the Shimada clan, a continuing thorn in Blackwatch’s side that Zenyatta would be acquainted with soon enough, providing he stayed.

“I come from a Yakuza family. My brother tried to kill me. Overwatch put me back together. Do you have any more questions?”

“No,” Zenyatta answered.

Apparently, it was all he planned to say on the issue, which figured. During Zenyatta’s first week here, Genji had noted the omnic had a talent to recognise contentious issues and treat them accordingly. He already knew not to speak to Reyes about Morrison or talk to Dr. Ziegler about the much too invasive experiments he’d let Moira perform on him which would no doubt have provoked another argument between the two. Knowing he wouldn’t have Zenyatta prodding at open wounds was a bit of a relief.

The omnic moved his fingers a fraction and something he did sent a spark of pain up the synthetic nerves of Genji’s spine. He hissed.

“Ah, I see,” Zenyatta said, halting for a moment. “Yes, this is easy. One of the clamps sits too tightly on a connecting node. Where could I get a screwdriver?”

“There’s a toolbox in the wardrobe,” Genji said. He’d used it to repair a wobbly leg on his bed. The thought that Zenyatta would employ it to repair his body didn’t sit well with him.

After he had picked out one of the small, slim screwdrivers, Zenyatta’s fingers pushed along the tube again and metal clicked against it. Something released, like a cramp fading, and Zenyatta moved the tube slightly before he adjusted the seat of the clamp and fastened it once more.

“Is that better?”

Genji turned his head and found he could do so without trouble.

“Yes,” he said.

“That’s good.”

Wordlessly, Zenyatta stored away the screwdriver and turned to the door. However, he hesitated before pushing it open.

“Does my presence make you uncomfortable?” he asked.

Genji looked up.

“Why would it?”

“I’m mechanical. You obviously don’t want to be.”

“I have no problem with omnics,” Genji answered. “I just don’t want to be one. I was a human for much too long to ever live like that.”

“It takes much more than mechanical limbs to erase your humanity. Not to insult the speed of your thought processes, but I doubt _your_ brain could be used to mine cryptocurrency.”

Involuntarily, the corner of Genji’s mouth twitched.

“No, probably not.”

-

“Are you nervous?”

Zenyatta looked up from where he was strapped into the helicopter seat next to Genji.

“A little,” he admitted. “I think I am on my third full system check in a row. I have never been in such a direct combat scenario. There will be a lot of on-the-spot adapting.”

“You will do fine.”

McCree glanced briefly over his shoulder, surprise clear in his expression, but Genji did not look at him. Now was not the time to examine why he felt the need to comfort Zenyatta when he resisted doing so much as talking to his colleagues most of the time. He was just paying him back for helping with his injury, he told himself.

“Hey, at least we got an on-site support who won’t tell us off for gettin’ hurt,” McCree said, when Genji didn’t react, flashing Moira a grin.

“I don’t expect it to take long for the omnic to become exasperated with you, too,” Moira gave back.

“Cut the chatter, everyone. We’re landing in two,” Reyes called.

Zenyatta straightened in his seat and held on to the bag of orbs sitting on his knees. Yes, he would do fine, Genji was sure of it. It would be interesting to fight alongside him – and he was the first thing other than dead Shimadas that had piqued Genji’s curiosity in a long time.


End file.
